Remington Outdoor Co., a historic firearms manufacturer founded in Herkimer County, has filed for bankruptcy protection as it grapples with a hefty debt load and a nationwide slump in gun sales.

The filing, made in bankruptcy court in Delaware late Sunday, comes after the company announced last month it would be filing for reorganization under Chapter 11. Remington is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm that bought the struggling company in 2007 and has attempted to sell it in the past. The company currently has between $100 million and $500 million in debt and plans to continue operating, the New York Times reported.

Gun sales under the Trump administration have also affected the company's status. Remington anticipated an uptick in sales if Hillary Clinton was elected president because of the possibility she would seek stricter gun control measures, but in the first nine months after Donald Trump's election the company's sales fell 27.5 percent, according to the Times. In 2012, Remington found itself in the spotlight after the 2012 school shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., when a shooter used a Remington Bushmaster assault rifle to kill 20 children and six adults.

News of the company's reorganization came during the same weekend students and others rallied in cities across the U.S. at "March for our lives" events, demanding stricter gun laws after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida in February left 17 dead.

Remington was founded in 1816 in Ilion, a village of around 8,000 in Herkimer County. The company is currently based in North Carolina but employs around 1,000 people at a plant in Ilion. Remington also has facilities in Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky.

It's unclear what impact the bankruptcy reorganization might have on employment at the plant. A call and email to a Remington spokeswoman were not immediately returned; neither was a call to a union that represents workers at the plant. An official at the Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency declined to comment.

Ilion Mayor Terry Leonard said rumors of layoffs at the facility "are constant," but he's hopeful that the company will be able to reorganize effectively. He was let go from the plant in 1991 after spending 21 years there in various positions. More downsizing would affect people in the village he oversees but also across Herkimer County and the Mohawk Valley, he said.

"The company is located within the limits of Ilion, but its impact is region-wide," Leonard said. "They've been a stable employer here for more than 200 years. It would certainly have an impact."